Mary+McCarty

At the very beginning of 1880, Mary McCarty, wife of C.H. McCarty of New Haven, was the "unsuspecting and unfortunate victim of the criminal or culpably stupid operation" that ended her life. She was approximately 30 years old. Dr. Banks was arrested on Pine Island.

I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century. Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more on this era, see [|Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century]. For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion] Sources:


 * "A case of abortion", //Winona Daily Republican//, Jan. 5, 1880
 * untitled snippet, //St. Paul (MN) Daily Globe//, Jan. 5, 1880



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